Communication management system, communication terminal, communication system, communication control method, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

A communication management system transmits a request for obtaining capability information indicating capability of a first communication terminal of a plurality of communication terminals, to the first communication terminal through a network, receives capability information of the first communication terminal from the first communication terminal, determines a set value for each one of a plurality of set items to be configured in providing a service plan corresponding to the capability of the first communication terminal, based on the capability information of the first communication terminal, and transmits the determined set value of each one of the plurality of set items to a relay device, as an operating parameter for controlling the relay device in transmitting or receiving content data to or from the first communication terminal according the service plan corresponding to the capability of the first communication terminal

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35U.S.C. §119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-265127, filed onDec. 26, 2014, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to managing a plurality ofcommunication terminals that transmit or receive content data.

2. Description of the Related Art

An example of a communication system that transmits or receives contentdata between a plurality of communication terminals via a relay deviceincludes a videoconference system that carries out videoconference via acommunication network such as the Internet. There is an increasing needfor such videoconference systems due to reduction in business trip costsand time in recent years. In such videoconference systems, a pluralityof videoconference terminals, which are examples of communicationterminals, is used. A videoconference can be carried out by transmissionor reception of image data and sound data between these videoconferenceterminals.

The recent improvement of broadband circumstances contributes totransmission and reception of high-quality image data and high-qualitysound data. Accordingly, it becomes easier to detect the circumstancesof a communication partner in a videoconference, thus improvingproductivity of conversation-based communication.

The same communication terminal (or of the same type) may be used fordifferent applications or purposes. For example, in the case of using acommunication terminal for remote diagnosis system, an image of theaffected part of a patient needs to be sent to a remote place. It isthus preferable that image data be of high quality. In contrast, in thecase of using a communication terminal for a videoconference system formerely conveying a message, image data may be of low quality.

However, there is a general tendency that the higher the quality ofimage data and sound data, the more expensive the usage fee of acommunication system. Therefore, in the case of using the samecommunication terminal (or of the same type) for different applicationsor purposes, if the user is unable to select a communication qualitythat suits a particular application or purpose, the user may eventuallypay a wasteful usage fee.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments of the present invention include a communicationmanagement system, which transmits a request for obtaining capabilityinformation indicating capability of a first communication terminal of aplurality of communication terminals, to the first communicationterminal through a network, receives capability information of the firstcommunication terminal from the first communication terminal, determinesa set value for each one of a plurality of set items to be configured inproviding a service plan corresponding to the capability of the firstcommunication terminal, based on the capability information of the firstcommunication terminal, and transmits the determined set value of eachone of the plurality of set items to a relay device, as an operatingparameter for controlling the relay device in transmitting or receivingcontent data to or from the first communication terminal according theservice plan corresponding to the capability of the first communicationterminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understoodfrom the following detailed description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a part of a communicationsystem relating to videoconference communication, according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an outer appearance of acommunication terminal of the communication system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration of the communication terminal of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration of a communication management system of the communicationsystem of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the communication system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a functionalconfiguration of the terminal, device, and system in the communicationsystem of FIG. 1 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a functionalconfiguration of a selector of the communication management system ofFIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an example data structure of a service plancontents management table;

FIG. 9 is an illustration for explaining operation of determining aservice plan to be recommended, performed by the communication system ofFIG. 6, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an example data structure of a relaydevice management table;

FIG. 11 is an illustration of an example data structure of anauthentication management table;

FIG. 12 is an illustration of an example data structure of a terminalmanagement table;

FIG. 13 is an illustration of an example data structure of a candidatelist management table;

FIG. 14 is an illustration of an example data structure of a sessionmanagement table;

FIG. 15 is an illustration of an example data structure of a capabilitymanagement table;

FIG. 16A is an illustration of an example data structure of apreferential rating management table for line speed;

FIG. 16B is an illustration of an example data structure of apreferential rating management table for display resolution;

FIG. 17A is an illustration of an example data structure of a set valuemanagement table for frame rate;

FIG. 17B is an illustration of an example data structure of a set valuemanagement table for display resolution;

FIG. 18 is an illustration of an example data structure of a serviceplan management table;

FIG. 19 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of managingstate information indicating an operating state of a relay device,according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of preparingfor starting communication between terminals, according to an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of configuringset values of operating parameters relating to a service plan, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is an illustration of an example screen, which allows a user torequest for configuring a service plan;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating operation of determining a serviceplan to be recommended, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 24A and 24B (FIG. 24) are a schematic diagram for explainingcalculating total preferential rating for frame rate;

FIGS. 25A, 25B, and 25C (FIG. 25) are a schematic diagram for explainingcalculating total preferential rating for display resolution;

FIG. 26 is an illustration of an example screen, which asks a user toapprove a recommended service plan;

FIG. 27 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of selecting arelay device, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation ofestablishing a communication session, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 29 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation oftransmitting or receiving image data and sound data between terminals,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The accompanying drawings are intended to depict example embodiments ofthe present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scopethereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn toscale unless explicitly noted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the presentinvention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

In describing example embodiments shown in the drawings, specificterminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the presentdisclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology soselected and it is to be understood that each specific element includesall technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner.

In the following description, illustrative embodiments will be describedwith reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations (e.g.,in the form of flowcharts) that may be implemented as program modules orfunctional processes including routines, programs, objects, components,data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implementparticular abstract data types and may be implemented using existinghardware at existing network elements or control nodes. Such existinghardware may include one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs),digital signal processors (DSPs),application-specific-integrated-circuits, field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs) computers or the like. These terms in general may be referred toas processors.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, or as is apparent from thediscussion, terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating”or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical, electronicquantities within the computer system's registers and memories intoother data similarly represented as physical quantities within thecomputer system memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices.

Referring to the drawings, an embodiment of the present invention isdescribed.

<Configuration of Videoconference System> Referring to FIG. 1, acommunication system 1 for carrying out videoconference among aplurality of communication terminals (10 a, 10 d) is described accordingto the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a portionof the communication system 1, which relates to videoconference beingcarried out between the communication terminals 10 a and 10 d.

The communication system 1 includes the plurality of communicationterminals (10 a, 10 d), a relay device 30, and a communicationmanagement system 50. In the following, any arbitrary one or ones of theplurality of communication terminals (10 a, 10 d) is or are referred toas the communication terminal 10.

The communication terminal 10 transmits or receives image data and sounddata as an example of content data. The image data may be a video imageor a still image, or both of the video image and the still image.

In this disclosure, the communication terminal that sends a request forstarting videoconference is referred to as the “starting terminal”, andthe communication terminal serving as a request destination (relaydestination) of videoconference is referred to as the “counterpartterminal”. In FIG. 1, the communication terminal 10 a is referred to asthe starting terminal, and the communication terminal 10 d is referredto as the counterpart terminal. Alternatively, when the communicationterminal 10 d requests to start videoconference with the communicationterminal 10 a, the communication terminal 10 d is referred to as thestarting terminal, and the communication terminal 10 a is referred to asthe counterpart terminal. Note that the communication terminal 10 may beused not only for communication between different offices or forcommunication between different rooms in the same office, but also forcommunication within the same room or for outdoor-indoor communicationor outdoor-outdoor communication. In the case where the communicationterminal 10 is used outside, wireless communication using a mobile phonecommunication network or the like is performed.

The relay device 30 relays content data among the plurality ofcommunication terminals 10. The communication management system 50centrally controls login authentication of the communication terminal10, management of the communication state of the communication terminal10, management of a candidate list or the like, and management of thecommunication state or the like of the relay device 30.

In the communication system 1, a management data session “sei” isestablished between the starting terminal 10 and the counterpartterminal 10 via the communication management system 50 to transmit orreceive various management data. Between the starting terminal 10 andthe counterpart terminal 10, four sessions are established via the relaydevice 30 to transmit or receive four items of data includinghigh-resolution image data, intermediate-resolution image data,low-resolution image data, and sound data. In FIG. 1, these foursessions are collectively referred to as image and sound data session“sed”. The image and sound data session “sed” may not always includefour sessions, but any number of sessions greater than or less thanfour.

Now, resolution of image data to be processed in this embodiment isdescribed. The low-resolution image data serves as a base image and hashorizontal 160 pixels by vertical 120 pixels. Theintermediate-resolution image data has horizontal 320 pixels by vertical240 pixels. The high-resolution image data has horizontal 640 pixels byvertical 480 pixels. In the case of a narrow band path, low-qualityimage data that only includes low-resolution image data serving as abase image is relayed. In the case of a relatively wide band path,intermediate-quality image data including low-resolution image dataserving as a base image and intermediate-resolution image data isrelayed. In the case of a very wide band path, high-quality image dataincluding low-resolution image data serving as a base image,intermediate-resolution image data, and high-resolution image data isrelayed. Since sound data is relatively small in data size, the sounddata is relayed even in the case of a narrow band path.

Examples of the communication system 1 include a data providing systemthat performs one-way transmission of content data from onecommunication terminal to another communication terminal via acommunication management system, and a communication system thatintercommunicates information, information reflecting feelings, or thelike between a plurality of communication terminals via a communicationmanagement system. The communication system is a system forintercommunicating information, information reflecting feelings, or thelike between a plurality of communication terminals via a communicationmanagement system, and examples thereof include a teleconference systemand a videoconference system.

In this embodiment, the communication system, the communicationmanagement system, and the communication terminal will be describedwhile assuming a videoconference system serving as an example of thecommunication system, a videoconference management system serving as anexample of the communication management system, and a videoconferenceterminal serving as an example of the communication terminal. That is,the communication terminal and the communication management systemaccording to the embodiment of the present invention are applied notonly to a videoconference system, but also to any desired communicationsystem.

<Hardware Configuration of Communication System> Now, a hardwareconfiguration of the communication system 1 is described. FIG. 2 is aperspective view illustrating an outer appearance of the communicationterminal 10 of the communication system 1 of FIG. 1. As illustrated inFIG. 2, the communication terminal 10 includes a casing 1100, an arm1200, and a camera housing 1300. The casing 1100 has a front wall 1110provided with an inlet face including a plurality of inlet holes, and aback wall 1120 having an exhaust face 1121 on which a plurality ofexhaust holes is formed. As a cooling fan included in the casing 1100 isdriven, air behind the communication terminal 10 can be taken in via theinlet face and exhausted to the rear of the communication terminal 10via the exhaust face 1121. A right-side wall 1130 of the casing 1100 hasa sound pickup hole 1131 formed thereon, and a built-in microphone 114,described later, is capable of picking up sound such as sound, noise, orvibration.

An operation panel 1150 is formed toward the right-side wall 1130 of thecasing 1100. The operation panel 1150 includes a plurality of operationkeys 108 a to 108 e, a power switch 109, and a plurality of sound outputholes 1151. Through the sound output holes 1151, a speaker 115 of theterminal 10 is able to output sounds such as sounds generated based onhuman voice. The casing 1100 further includes a holder 1160, which isprovided at the front surface toward the left side wall 1140. The holder1160, which has a concave shape, accommodates therein the arm 1200 andthe camera housing 1300. A plurality of connection ports (1132 a to 1132c) for electrically connecting cables to an external device connectioninterface (I/F) 118 described later is provided on the right-side wall1130 of the casing 1100. In contrast, a connection port for electricallyconnecting a cable 120 c for a display 120 to the external deviceconnection I/F 118 described later is provided toward the left-side wall1140 of the casing 1100.

The following description uses the term “operation key(s) 108” forindicating an arbitrary one or ones of the operation keys (108 a to 108e), and the term “connection port(s) 1132” for indicating an arbitraryone or ones of the connection ports (1132 a to 1132 c).

The arm 1200 is attached to the casing 1100 via a torque hinge 1210 soas to be rotatable in the vertical direction within the range of a tiltangle θ1 of 135 degrees with respect to the casing 1100. FIG. 2illustrates a state in which the tilt angle θ1 is 90 degrees. The camerahousing 1300 incorporates therein the camera 112 that takes an image ofan object. The object may be a part of a user, document, or a room wherethe terminal 10 is located. The camera housing 1300 is provided with atorque hinge 1310. With the torque hinge, the camera housing 1300 isattached to the arm 1200. The camera housing 1300 is made rotatable inthe vertical and horizontal directions within the range of a pan angleθ2 of ±180 degrees and a tilt angle θ3 of ±45 degrees with respect tothe arm 1200, in which the state illustrated in FIG. 2 serves as 0degrees.

Note that the external view illustrated in FIG. 2 is only exemplary andthe appearance is not restricted thereto. The camera 112 and themicrophone 114 need not necessarily be built-in devices and may beexternal devices. Since the communication management system 50 has thesame appearance as that of a general server computer, a description ofthe appearance thereof is omitted.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration of the communication terminal 10. As illustrated in FIG.3, the communication terminal 10 of the embodiment includes a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 101 that controls entire operation of thecommunication terminal 10, a read only memory (ROM) 102 that stores aprogram for operating the CPU 101 such as an initial program loader(IPL), a random access memory (RAM) 103 that operates as a work area forthe CPU 101, a flash memory 104 that stores various types of data, suchas the terminal control program, image data, and sound data, a solidstate drive (SSD) 105 that controls reading/writing of various types ofdata from/to the flash memory 104 under control of the CPU 101, a mediumI/F 107 that controls reading/writing (storage) of data from/to arecording medium 106, the operation key 108 operated in the case of, forexample, selecting a counterpart terminal of the communication terminal10, the power switch 109 for turning on/off the power of thecommunication terminal 10, and a network interface (I/F) 111 fortransmitting data using the communication network 2. In alternative tothe SSD, a hard disk drive (HDD) may be used.

In addition, the communication terminal 10 includes the built-in camera112, which captures an image of a subject and obtains image data undercontrol of the CPU 101, an imaging element I/F 113 that controls drivingof the camera 112, the built-in microphone 114, which receives a soundinput, the built-in speaker 115, which outputs sounds, a soundinput/output I/F 116 that processes inputting/outputting of a soundsignal between the microphone 114 and the speaker 115 under control ofthe CPU 101, a display I/F 117 that transmits image data to an externaldisplay 120 under control of the CPU 101, the external device connectionI/F 118 for connecting various external devices, and a bus line 110 suchas an address bus and a data bus for electrically connecting theabove-described elements as illustrated in FIG. 3.

The display 120 is a display formed of liquid crystal or organicelectroluminescence (EL) that displays an image of a subject, anoperation icon, or the like. In addition, the display 120 is connectedto the display I/F 117 by the cable 120 c. The cable 120 c may be ananalog red green blue (RGB) (video graphic array (VGA)) signal cable, acomponent video cable, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI)signal cable, or a digital video interactive (DVI) signal cable.

The camera 112 includes a lens and a solid-state imaging element thatconverts an image (video) of a subject to electronic data by convertinglight to electric charge. As the solid-state imaging element, forexample, a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or acharge-coupled device (CCD) is used.

The external device connection I/F 118 is capable of connecting anexternal device such as an external camera, an external microphone, oran external speaker by using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable or thelike. In the case where an external camera is connected, the externalcamera is driven in preference to the built-in camera 112 under controlof the CPU 101. Similarly, in the case where an external microphone isconnected or an external speaker is connected, the external microphoneor the external speaker is driven in preference to the built-inmicrophone 114 or the built-in speaker 115 under control of the CPU 101.

The recording medium 106 is removable from the communication terminal10. In addition, a non-volatile memory that reads or writes data undercontrol of the CPU 101 is not limited to the flash memory 104, and anelectrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) may beused instead.

Further, the terminal control program may be recorded in a file in aformat installable or executable on a computer-readable recording mediumsuch as the recording medium 106 for distribution. In addition, theterminal control program may be stored on the ROM 102, instead of theflash memory 104.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of thecommunication management system 50 according to the embodiment.

The communication management system 50 includes a CPU 201 that controlsentire operation of the communication management system 50, a ROM 202that stores a program for operating the CPU 201, such as an IPL, a RAM203 used as a work area for the CPU 201, the HD 204, which storesvarious types of data, such as the communication management program, ahard disk drive (HDD) 205 that controls reading/writing of various typesof data from/to the HD 204 under control of the CPU 201, a medium I/F207 that controls reading/writing (storage) of data from/to a recordingmedium 206 such as a flash memory, a display 208 that displays varioustypes of information such as a cursor, a menu, a window, characters, oran image, a network I/F 209 for transmitting data using thecommunication network 2, a keyboard 211 including a plurality of keysfor entering characters, numerals, and various instructions, a mouse 212that selects and executes various instructions, selects a processingtarget, and moves the cursor, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)drive 214 that controls reading/writing of various types of data from/toa CD-ROM 213 serving as an example of a removable recording medium, anda bus line 210 such as an address bus and a data bus for electricallyconnecting the above-described elements, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

Note that the communication management program may be recorded in a filein a format installable or executable on a computer-readable recordingmedium such as the recording medium 206 or the CD-ROM 213 fordistribution. In addition, the communication management program may bestored on the ROM 202, instead of the HD 204.

Other examples of the removable recording medium include acomputer-readable recording medium such as a compact disc recordable(CD-R), a digital versatile disk (DVD), and a Blue-ray disk.

Since the relay device 30 has a hardware configuration that is the sameas or similar to that of the above-described communication managementsystem 50, descriptions thereof are omitted. In case of the relay device30, the HD 204 stores a relay device control program in alternative tothe communication management program.

<Configuration of Communication System> Referring now to FIG. 5, aconfiguration of the communication system 1 is described according tothe embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating thecommunication system 1 of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 5, the starting terminal 10 a, the counterpart terminal 10 d,the relay device 30, and the communication management system 50 areconnected to the communication network 2 including the Internet. Thecommunication network 2 may include wireless network, in addition towired network. The communication terminal 10 a is operated by a user C1,and the communication terminal 10 d is operated by a user C2. Thecommunication management system 50 provides the communication terminal10 with various services as described below.

<Functional Configuration of Terminal>

The terminal 10 includes a transmitter/receiver 11, an operation inputacceptor 12, a login requester 13, an image capturer 14, a sound input15 a, a sound output 15 b, a capability obtainer 16, a display control17, a delay detector 18, and a data processor 19. These units arefunctions that are implemented by or that are caused to function byoperating any of the hardware components illustrated in FIG. 3 incooperation with the instructions of the CPU 101 according to theterminal program expanded from the flash memory 104 to the RAM 103. Theterminal 10 further includes a memory 1000 implemented by the RAM 103illustrated in FIG. 3, and the flash memory 104 illustrated in FIG. 3.The terminal 10 is inserted with a recording medium 1010, which isimplemented by the recording medium 106 illustrated in FIG. 3. The dataprocessor 19 reads or writes various data from or to the recordingmedium 1010.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, a functional configuration of the terminal10 is explained in detail. In the following description of functionalconfiguration of the terminal 10, relationships of the hardwarecomponents in FIG. 3 with the functional configuration of the terminal10 in FIG. 6 will also be described.

The transmitter/receiver 11 of the terminal 10 illustrated in FIG. 6,which may be implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 of FIG. 3,and the network I/F 111 of FIG. 3, transmits or receives various data(or information) to the other terminal, device, or system through thecommunication network 2. Before starting communication with a desiredcounterpart terminal, the transmitter/receiver 11 starts receiving stateinformation indicating the state of each candidate counterpart terminal,from the management system 50. The state information not only indicatesthe operating state of each terminal 10 (whether the terminal 10 isonline or offline), but also indicates a detailed state such as whetherthe terminal 10 whose state is online is now capable of communicating oris currently communicating, or the user of the terminal 10 is not at theterminal 10. In addition, the state information not only indicates theoperating state of each terminal 10, but also indicates various states,such as the state that the cable 120 c is disconnected from the terminal10, the state that the terminal 10 can output sounds but not images, orthe state that the terminal 10 is muted. Hereinafter, the case in whichthe state information indicates the operating state will be described byway of example.

The operation input acceptor 12, which is implemented by theinstructions of the CPU 101 illustrated in FIG. 3 and by the operationkeys 108 and the power switch 109 illustrated in FIG. 3, accepts variousinputs from the user. For example, when the user turns on the powerswitch 109 illustrated in FIG. 3, the operation input acceptor 12illustrated in FIG. 6 accepts the power on operation and turns on thepower.

The login requester 13 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101illustrated in FIG. 3. In response to the power on operation, the loginrequester 13 causes the transmitter/receiver 11 to automaticallytransmit to the management system 50 via the communication network 2,login request information indicating a login request, and the current IPaddress of the starting terminal. In addition, when the user turns thepower switch 109 from on to off, the transmitter/receiver 11 transmitsto the management system 50 state information indicating that the poweris to be turned off, and then the operation input acceptor 12 completelyturns off the power. Accordingly, the management system 50 can detectthat the power of the terminal 10 is turned from on to off.

The image capturer 14 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101illustrated in FIG. 3 and by the camera 112 and the imaging element I/F113 illustrated in FIG. 3. The image capturer 14 captures an image of asubject and outputs image data obtained by capturing the image.

The sound input 15 a is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101illustrated in FIG. 3 and by the sound input/output I/F 116 illustratedin FIG. 3. After the sound of the user is converted to a sound signal bythe microphone 114, the sound input 15 a receives sound data accordingto this sound signal. The sound output 15 b is implemented by theinstructions of the CPU 101 illustrated in FIG. 3 and by the soundinput/output I/F 116 illustrated in FIG. 3, and outputs the sound signalaccording to the sound data to the speaker 115, and the speaker 115outputs sound.

The capability obtainer 16, which may be implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 101 illustrated in FIG. 3, obtains information indicatingcapability of the terminal 10. Example items indicating capabilityinclude, but not limited to, a communication capability such as a linespeed of the terminal 10, and a display resolution of the display forthe terminal 10.

The display control 17 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101illustrated in FIG. 3 and by the display I/F 117 illustrated in FIG. 3.The display control 17 combines images of different resolutions andtransmits the combined image to the display 120, as will be describedlater. The display control 17 also transmits information on a candidatelist, received from the management system 50, to the display 120, andcontrols display of the candidate list on the display 120.

The delay detector 18, which is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 101 illustrated in FIG. 3, detects a delay time (ms) of image dataor sound data transmitted from another terminal 10 via the relay device30.

The data processor 19, which is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 101 illustrated in FIG. 3 and by the SSD 105 illustrated in FIG. 3,or by the instructions of the CPU 101, performs processing to storevarious types of data in the memory 1000 or to read various types ofdata stored in the memory 1000. The memory 1000 stores a terminalidentification (ID) for identifying each terminal 10, a password, andthe like. Further, every time image data and sound data are received inperforming communication with a counterpart terminal, the memory 1000overwrites the image data and sound data. The display 120 displays animage based on image data before being overwritten, and the speaker 115outputs sound based on sound data before being overwritten.

Note that a terminal ID in the embodiment is an example ofidentification information that is used to uniquely identify a specificterminal 10, such that a language, a character(s), a symbol(s), orvarious marks are not limited to the above-described embodiment. Forexample, a combination of at least two of the above-mentioned language,character(s), symbol(s), and various marks may be used as a terminal ID.

Instead of a terminal ID, a user ID for identifying the user at theterminal 10 may be used. In such case, terminal identificationinformation includes not only the terminal ID, but also the user ID.

<Functional Configuration of Relay Device>

The relay device 30 includes a transmitter/receiver 31, a state detector32, a quality changer 33, and a data processor 39. These units arefunctions that are implemented by or that are caused to function byoperating any of the hardware components illustrated in FIG. 4 incooperation with the instructions of the CPU 201 according to the relaydevice control program expanded from the RD 204 to the RAM 203. Therelay device 30 also includes a memory 3000 implemented by the RAM 203illustrated in FIG. 4 and/or the HD 204 illustrated in FIG. 4.

(Service Plan Contents Management Table)

The memory 3000 stores a service plan contents management database(service contents management DB) 3001 such as a service plan contentsmanagement table as illustrated in FIG. 8. The service plan contentsmanagement table stores, for each session to be used for communicationamong the plurality of terminals 10, a session ID for identifying thesession, various set items for service plan, and IP addresses of theterminals 10 that are communicating through that session in associationwith one another. As an example of service plan set items, variousoperating parameters for controlling operation of the relay device 30are stored as illustrated in FIG. 8. More specifically, such operatingparameters include an image frame rate (frame per second), an imageresolution, an image or sound bit rate (kilo bits per second), and anencoding format. The operating parameters used in this embodiment arethose parameters that affect quality of image data and quality of sounddata to be received at the terminal 10. The service plan set items mayadditionally or alternatively include any other information such as asampling rate of sound, or color depth of image. The relay device 30refers to the service plan contents management table of FIG. 8 tochange, if needed, quality of content data (image data and/or sounddata) received from the terminal 10, such that the content data to betransmitted to the counterpart terminal 10 has the quality parameters asdefined by the service plan contents management table of FIG. 8 for aspecific session. Further, in this disclosure, the set items (or setvalues of the set items) of a service plan and the operating parametersto be configured in providing the service plan may be usedinterchangeably.

(Functional Configuration of Relay Device)

Next, functional configuration of the relay device 30 will be describedin detail. In the following description of functional configuration ofthe relay device 30, relationships of the hardware elements in FIG. 4with the functional configuration of the relay device 30 in FIG. 6 willalso be described.

The transmitter/receiver 31 of the relay device 30 illustrated in FIG.6, which is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 201 illustratedin FIG. 4 and by the network I/F 209 illustrated in FIG. 4, transmits orreceives various types of data (or information) to or from anotherterminal, device, or system via the communication network 2. Thetransmitter/receiver 31 also serves as a transferer, which transfersimage data and sound data transmitted from a first communicationterminal 10 to a second communication terminal 10.

The state detector 32, which is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4, detects the operating state of the relaydevice 30 provided with the state detector 32. The possible operatingstates are “online”, “offline”, “communicating”, and “interrupted”.

The quality changer 33, which is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4, refers to a service plan ID in theservice plan contents management table (see FIG. 8), and changes thequality of image data and the quality of sound data according to animage quality parameter and a sound quality parameter.

The data processor 39, which may be implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4 and the HDD 205 illustrated in FIG. 4,performs processing to store various types of data in the memory 3000 orread various types of data stored in the memory 3000.

<Functional Configuration of Management System>

The management system 50 includes a transmitter/receiver 51, a terminalauthenticator 52, a state manager 53, a terminal extractor 54, aterminal state obtainer 55, a selector 56, a session manager 57, aconfiguration unit 58, and a data processor 59. These units arefunctions that are implemented by or that are caused to function byoperating any of the elements illustrated in FIG. 4 in cooperation withthe instructions of the CPU 201 according to the management systemprogram expanded from the HD 204 to the RAM 203. The management system50 further includes a memory 5000, which is implemented by the HD 204 ofFIG. 4.

(Relay Device Management Table)

The memory 5000 stores a relay device management DB 5001 such as a relaydevice management table illustrated in FIG. 10. The relay devicemanagement table stores, for each one of the relay devices 30 managed bythe management system 50, the relay device ID, the operating state ofthe relay device 30, the date/time received at which state informationindicating the operating state is received at the management system 50,the IP address of the relay device 30, and the maximum data transferrate (Mbps) of the relay device 30, in association with one another. Forexample, the relay device management table illustrated in FIG. 10indicates that the relay device 30 a with the relay device ID “111a” hasthe operating state “online”, the date/time received at which stateinformation is received by the management system 50 “Apr. 10, 2014,13:00”, the IP address “1.2.1.2”, and the maximum data transfer rate“100 Mbps”.

(Authentication Management Table)

The memory 5000 further stores an authentication management DB 5002 suchas an authentication management table illustrated in FIG. 11. In theauthentication management table, for each one of the terminals 10managed by the management system 50, the terminal ID and the passwordare stored in association with each other. For example, theauthentication management table illustrated in FIG. 11 indicates thatthe terminal ID of the terminal 10 aa is “01aa”, and the password of theterminal 10 aa is “aaaa”.

(Terminal Management Table)

The memory 5000 also stores a terminal management DB 5003 such as aterminal management table illustrated in FIG. 12. The terminalmanagement table stores, for each one of the terminals 10 managed by themanagement system 50, the terminal ID of the terminal 10, a counterpartterminal name in the case where the terminal 10 serves as a counterpartterminal, the operating state of the terminal 10, a date/time receivedat which login request information described later is received at themanagement system 50, the IP address of the terminal 10, and the serviceplan ID of the service to be provided to the terminal 10, in associationwith one another. For example, the terminal management table illustratedin FIG. 12 indicates that the terminal 10 aa with the terminal ID “01aa”has the counterpart terminal name “AA terminal, Tokyo office, Japan”,the operating state “online (communication OK)”, the date/time receivedat which login request information is received by the management system50 “Apr. 10, 2014, 13:40”, the IP address “1.2.1.3”, and the serviceplan with the service plan ID “svp103” is provided.

(Candidate List Management Table)

The memory 5000 further stores a candidate list management DB 5004 suchas a candidate list management table illustrated in FIG. 13. Thecandidate list management table stores, for each one of the terminals 10managed by the management system 50, the terminal ID of the terminal 10(starting terminal) that requests to start communication, in associationwith the terminal IDs of all counterpart terminals 10 registered ascandidate counterpart terminals for the starting terminal 10. Forexample, the candidate list management table illustrated in FIG. 13indicates that candidates for a counterpart terminal to which a startingterminal (terminal 10 aa) whose terminal ID is “01aa” can send a requestto start communication in a videoconference are the terminal 10 ab whoseterminal ID is “01ab”, the terminal 10 ba whose terminal ID is “01ba”,the terminal 10 bb whose terminal ID is “01bb”, and so forth. Thecandidate counterpart terminals are updated by addition or deletion inresponse to an addition or deletion request received from an arbitraryterminal to the management system 50.

(Session Management Table)

The memory 5000 also stores a session management DB 5005 such as asession management table illustrated in FIG. 14. The session managementtable stores, for each session ID of a session to be used forcommunication, the relay device ID of a relay device 30 used in relayingimage data and sound data, the terminal ID of a starting terminal, theterminal ID of a counterpart terminal, a delay time (ms) in receivingimage data at the counterpart terminal, and a received date/time atwhich delay information indicating this delay time is transmitted fromthe counterpart terminal and received by the management system 50 inassociation with one another. The session ID in the session managementtable is the same as the session ID in the service plan contentsmanagement table of FIG. 8. For example, referring to FIG. 14, throughthe session with the session ID “se1”, two terminals (10 aa, 10 db) arecommunicated with each other via the relay device 30 d with the deviceID “111d”.

(Capability Management Table)

The memory 5000 further stores a capability management DB 5006, such asa capability management table illustrated in FIG. 15. The capabilitymanagement table stores, for each one of one or more capability items tobe obtained from the terminal 10 in determining a service plan, acapability ID for identifying the capability item and a capability nameindicating the capability item. The capability items to be obtained fromthe terminal 10 may be previously determined based on set items forservice plan being managed using the service plan management table ofFIG. 18. For example, the capability management table stores thecapability item with the capability ID “m001” and the capability name“line speed”, and the capability item with the capability ID “m002” andthe capability name “display resolution”. The capability item “linespeed” may be used to determine at least a set value for the set item“frame rate”. The capability item “display resolution” may be used todetermine at least a set value for the set item “resolution”. While thecapability management table may store any other capability items relatedto the set items for service plan, it is assumed that the capabilityitems “line speed” and “display resolution” are considered in thisexample for simplicity. Further, as described in the following, thecapability item “line speed” may be used to also determine a set valuefor the set item “resolution”. That is, one capability item may be usedto determine more than one set item of service plan.

(Preferential Rating Management Table) The memory 5000 further stores apreferential rating management DB 5007, which stores a preferentialrating management table for the capability item being managed by thecapability management DB 5006. In this example, the memory 5000 stores apreferential rating management table for line speed as illustrated inFIG. 16A, and a preferential rating management table for displayresolution as illustrated in FIG. 16B. FIG. 16A is an illustration of anexample data structure of the preferential rating management table forline speed. FIG. 16B is an illustration of an example data structure ofthe preferential rating management table for display resolution.

The preferential rating management table previously stores apreferential rating to be used for determining a service plan to berecommended to the terminal 10, for a set value ID for identifying aspecific set value of the service plan and for a capability level of theterminal 10. In this example, the preferential rating is represented bya number of points. For example, the preferential rating managementtable for line speed of FIG. 16A previously sets preferential ratingindicating priority in selecting each one of set value IDs of at leastthe set items “frame rate” and “display resolution”, for each capabilitylevel of the capability item “line speed”. The preferential ratingmanagement table for display resolution of FIG. 16B previously setspreferential rating indicating priority in selecting each one of the setvalue IDs of at least the set item “resolution”, for each capabilitylevel of the capability item “display resolution”.

(Set Value Management Table)

The memory 5000 further stores a set value management DB 5008, whichstores a set value management table for set item of service plan asmanaged by the service plan management table of FIG. 18. In thisexample, the memory 5000 stores a set value management table for framerate as illustrated in FIG. 17A, and a set value management table fordisplay resolution as illustrated in FIG. 17B. Further, the managementsystem 50 manages the set value IDs to be equal to with each otherbetween the preferential rating management table in FIG. 16 and the setvalue management table of FIG. 17, or among any other management tablesbeing managed by the management system 50. FIG. 17A is an illustrationof an example data structure of a set value management table for framerate. FIG. 17B is an illustration of an example data structure of a setvalue management table for display resolution.

The set value management table for frame rate of FIG. 17A stores aplurality of set values for frame rate (with the service ID “sv100”),which is to be used for determining a service plan to be provided to theterminal 10, in association with a set value ID for identifying that setvalue. For example, the set value “30 fps” for the set item “frame rate”is assigned with the set value ID “svc103”. The set value managementtable for frame rate of FIG. 17B stores a plurality of set values fordisplay resolution (with the service ID “sv200”), which is to be usedfor determining a service plan to be provided to the terminal 10, inassociation with a set value ID for identifying that set value. Forexample, the set value “VGA” for the set item “(display) resolution” isassigned with the set value ID “svc201”.

(Service Plan Management Table)

The memory 5000 further stores a service plan management DB 5009, suchas a service plan management table of FIG. 18. The service planmanagement table stores, for each one of service plans available forselection, a service plan ID for identifying the service plan, setvalues of set items for that service plan, and a usage fee for usingthat service plan, in association with one another. More specifically,for each set item of the service plan, a specific set value is managed.For example, the service plan with the service plan ID “svp101” has theset value “30 fps” for frame rate, “VGA” for resolution, and so on.Since these set items “frame rate”, “resolution”, “bit rate”, and“encoding format” correspond to the service contents of the service planthat are managed in the service plan contents management table (FIG. 8),description thereof is omitted. The usage fee is an amount of fee thatis charged to a user of the service with a specific service plan ID, bya service provider of the service with that service plan ID. The serviceprovider in this example may be an administrator of the managementsystem 50 or a user of the management system 50. The usage fee is storedin association with the service plan ID of each service. For example,the service provider may charge the user with higher usage fees, asquality of image data and sound data become higher (that is, when theservice contents are high-standard). For example, for the serviceproviding high-quality image data, such as, with higher resolution orhigher frame rate, such service will be charged at higher usage fees.

Note that information regarding the contents in the service planmanagement table (see FIG. 18) are, for example, set items and usage feeset by the service provider at the management system 50. As describedbelow referring to S84, the management system 50 transmits informationregarding the service plan set items, obtained from the service planmanagement table of FIG. 18 to the relay device 30. The relay device 30then stores the information regarding the service plan set items in theservice plan contents management table of FIG. 8. In this disclosure,the set items for service plan may correspond to operating parameters tobe set in providing the services according to a specific service plan.

(Functional Configuration of Management System)

Next, referring back to FIG. 6, functional configuration of themanagement system 50 will be described in detail. In the followingdescription of functional configuration of the management system 50,relationships of the hardware components in FIG. 4 with functionalconfiguration of the management system 50 in FIG. 6 is also described.

The transmitter/receiver 51, which is implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4 and by the network IN 209 illustratedin FIG. 4, and transmits or receives various types of data (orinformation) to or from another terminal, device, or system via thecommunication network 2.

The terminal authenticator 52, which is implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4, performs terminal authenticationby searching the authentication management DB 5002 of the memory 5000 byusing a terminal ID and a password included in login request informationreceived via the transmitter/receiver 51 as search keys and determiningwhether the same pair of a terminal ID and a password is managed in theauthentication management DB 5002.

The state manager 53 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 201illustrated in FIG. 4. In order to manage the operating state of astarting terminal that has sent a login request, the state manager 53stores the terminal ID of the starting terminal, the operating state ofthe starting terminal, the date/time received at which login requestinformation is received by the management system 50, and the IP addressof the starting terminal in association with one another in the terminalmanagement DB 5003 (see FIG. 12). In addition, in response to receivingstate information sent from the terminal 10 indicating that power is tobe turned off when the user turns the power switch 109 of the terminal10 from on to off, the state manager 53 changes the operating stateindicating an online state to an offline state in the terminalmanagement DB 5003 (see FIG. 12).

The terminal extractor 54, which is implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4, searches the candidate listmanagement DB 5004 (see FIG. 13) by using the terminal ID of a startingterminal that has sent a login request as a key, and reads the terminalID of a candidate counterpart terminal that can communicate with thestarting terminal, thereby extracting the terminal ID. The terminalextractor 54 also searches the candidate list management DB 5004 (seeFIG. 13) by using the terminal ID of a starting terminal that has sent alogin request as a key, and extracts the terminal ID of another startingterminal that has the terminal ID of the former-mentioned startingterminal registered as a candidate for a counterpart terminal.

The terminal state obtainer 55, which is implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4, searches the terminal managementDB 5003 (see FIG. 12) by using the terminal ID of a candidatecounterpart terminal, extracted by the terminal extractor 54, as asearch key, and reads the operating state for each terminal ID extractedby the terminal extractor 54. Accordingly, the terminal state obtainer55 can obtain the operating state of a candidate counterpart terminalthat can communicate with a starting terminal that has sent a loginrequest. The terminal state obtainer 55 also searches the terminalmanagement DB 5003 by using the terminal ID extracted by the terminalextractor 54 as a search key, and obtains the operating state of astarting terminal that has sent a login request.

The configuration unit 58, which is implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 4, configures a service to be providedto the terminal 10 based on the capability of the terminal 10 that isobtained from the terminal 10. Specifically, the configuration unit 58stores the service plan ID of the service plan to be provided to theterminal 10, in the “service plan ID” field of a record for thatterminal 10 in the terminal management table (See FIG. 12). Theconfiguration unit 58 includes an adder 58 a, a determiner 58 b, adecider 58 c, and a generator 58 d, which are implemented by theinstructions of the CPU 201 (FIG. 4) as illustrated in FIG. 7.

The adder 58 a calculates, for each one of set items for service plan,the total preferential rating by adding up the points for all set valueIDs using the preferential rating management table (FIG. 16). Operationof calculating the total preferential rating is explained later.

The determiner 58 b determines whether preferential rating are added forall set items.

The decider 58 c decides the set value of each set item of the serviceplan, based on the set value ID having the highest total preferringrating. The decider 58 c further decides a service plan to berecommended to the terminal 10, based on the set value decided for eachset item.

The generator 58 c generates a screen, such as a screen of FIG. 26,based on the set value of each set item and the usage fee for a specificservice plan that is decided by the decider 58 c.

<Operation>

Referring to FIG. 9, example operation of determining a service to beprovided to the terminal 10 is explained according to the embodiment.FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation of determining aservice plan to be provided to the terminal 10, performed by thecommunication system 1, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, in this embodiment, the management system 50transmits a request for capability of the terminal 10, to the terminal10 (ST1). The terminal 10 obtains capability of the terminal 10 (ST2).The management system 50 receives the capability of the terminal 10 fromthe terminal 10 (ST3). The management system 50 transmits a service planto be recommended to the terminal 10, which is determined based on thecapability of the terminal 10 (ST4). In response to the recommendedservice plan, the management system 50 receives a response indicatingwhether to accept the recommended service plan from the terminal 10(ST5). When the response indicates to accept the recommended service,the management system 50 configures the recommended service plan as aservice plan for use by the terminal 10 (ST6). The management system 50transmits information indicating operating parameters (that is, setvalues of the set items) of the relay device 30 for the configuredservice plan, to the relay device 30 (ST7).

Referring to FIGS. 19 to 29, operation of determining a service plan andstarting communication according to the service plan, performed by thecommunication system 1 is described according to an example embodimentof the present invention. FIG. 19 is a data sequence diagramillustrating operation of managing an operating state of each of therelay device 30, performed by the management system 50.

First, operation of managing state information, transmitted from eachrelay device 30 to the management system 50, indicating the state of therelay device 30 will be described using FIG. 19. At each relay device30, the state detector 32 illustrated in FIG. 6 periodically detects theoperating state of the relay device 30 (steps S1-1 to S1-4). In order tocause the management system 50 to manage the operating state of therelay device 30 in real time, the transmitter/receiver 31 of each relaydevice 30 periodically transmits its state information to the managementsystem 50 via the communication network 2 (step S2-1 to S2-4). The stateinformation includes the relay device ID of the relay device 30, and theoperating state detected by the state detector 32 of the relay device30. Note that the embodiment discusses the case where, while the relaydevices (30 a, 30 b, and 30 d) are normally operating and are “online”,the relay device 30 c, which is operating, is “offline” since some sortof failure has occurred in a program for executing a relay operation ofthe relay device 30 c.

Next, in the management system 50, the transmitter/receiver 51 receivesthe state information transmitted from each relay device 30, and storesthe state information according to each relay device ID in the relaydevice management DB 5001 (see FIG. 10) of the memory 5000 via the dataprocessor 59 (steps S3-1 to S3-4). Accordingly, in the relay devicemanagement table illustrated in FIG. 10, one of the operating states“online”, “offline”, and “out of order” is stored and managed accordingto each relay device ID. In this case, for each relay device ID, thedate/time received at which the state information is received by themanagement system 50 is additionally stored. In the case where no stateinformation is sent from a relay device 30, an operating state field anda date/time received field in each record in the relay device managementtable illustrated in FIG. 10 become blank, or the previous operatingstate and the date/time received at which the previous operating stateis received are shown.

Next, operation of transmitting or receiving each item of managementdata at a preparation step before starting communication among threeplaces, namely, the terminal 10 aa, the terminal 10 ba, and the terminal10 db, will be described using FIG. 20. FIG. 20 is a data sequencediagram illustrating operation for preparing to start communicationbetween the terminals 10 aa and 10 ba. In FIG. 20, various managementdata is transmitted or received through the management data session“sei” as described above referring to FIG. 1.

When the user of a starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) turns on the powerswitch 109 illustrated in FIG. 2, the operation input acceptor 12illustrated in FIG. 6 accepts the power on operation and turns on thepower (step S21). In response to acceptance of the power on operation,the login requester 13 automatically transmits login request informationindicating a login request from the transmitter/receiver 11 to themanagement system 50 via the communication network 2 (step S22). Notethat the login request information may be transmitted in response tooperation of the operation keys 108 by the user, instead of turning onof the power switch 109. The login request information includes aterminal ID for identifying the terminal 10 aa, which is a terminalserving as a starting terminal, and a password. The terminal ID and thepassword are data that have been read via the data processor 19 from thememory 1000 and sent to the transmitter/receiver 11. Alternatively, theterminal ID and the password may be recorded on the recording medium1010 and may be read out from the recording medium 1010. In the case oftransmitting login request information from the terminal 10 aa to themanagement system 50, the management system 50, which is a receivingside, can detect the IP address of the terminal 10 aa, which is atransmitting side.

Next, the terminal authenticator 52 of the management system 50 performsterminal authentication by searching the authentication management DB5002 (see FIG. 11) of the memory 5000 by using the terminal ID and thepassword included in the login request information received via thetransmitter/receiver 51 as search keys, and determining whether the sameterminal ID and the same password are managed in the authenticationmanagement DB 5002 (step S23). In the case where the terminalauthenticator 52 determines that the login request is a login requestreceived from a terminal 10 that has a legitimate use authority sincethe same terminal ID and the same password are managed, the statemanager 53 stores, in the terminal management DB 5003 (see FIG. 12), theterminal ID of the terminal 10 aa, the operating state, the date/timereceived at which the above-described login request information isreceived, and the IP address of the terminal 10 aa in association withone another (step S24). Accordingly, the operating state “online”, thedate/time received “4.10.2014.13:40”, and the IP address “1.2.1.3” ofthe terminal 10 aa are managed in association with the terminal ID“01aa” in the terminal management table illustrated in FIG. 12.

The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmitsauthentication result information indicating an authentication resultobtained by the terminal authenticator 52 to the starting terminal(terminal 10 aa) which has sent the above-mentioned login request, viathe communication network 2 (step S25). In the embodiment, the case inwhich it has been determined by the terminal authenticator 52 that theterminal 10 aa is a terminal that has a legitimate use authority will bedescribed as follows.

The terminal extractor 54 of the management system 50 searches thecandidate list management DB 5004 (see FIG. 13) by using the terminal ID“01aa” of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) which has sent thelogin request as a search key, and reads out and thereby extracts theterminal ID of a candidate counterpart terminal that can communicatewith the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) (step S26). Here, forexample, the terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba”, and “01db”) of counterpartterminals (terminals 10 ab, 10 ba, and 10 db) corresponding to theterminal ID “01aa” of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) areextracted.

Next, the terminal state obtainer 55 searches the terminal management DB5003 (see FIG. 12) by using the terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba”, and“01db”) of the counterpart terminals, which are extracted by theterminal extractor 54, as search keys, and reads corresponding operatingstates for the individual terminal IDs extracted by the terminalextractor 54, thereby obtaining the operating states of the terminals(10 ab, 10 ba, and 10 db) (step S27).

Next, the transmitter/receiver 51 transmits counterpart terminal stateinformation including the terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba”, and “01db”)serving as the search keys used in step S27 described above and theoperating states (“offline”, “online”, and “online”) of the counterpartterminals (terminals 10 ab, 10 ba, and 10db) corresponding to theseterminal IDs to the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) via thecommunication network 2 (step S28). In doing so, the starting terminal(terminal 10 aa) can obtain the current operating states (“offline”,“online”, and “online”) of the terminals (10 ab, 10 ba, and 10 db) thatare candidates for a counterpart terminal that can communicate with thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa).

The terminal extractor 54 of the management system 50 further searchesthe candidate list management DB 5004 (see FIG. 13) by using theterminal ID “01aa” of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) which hassent the login request as a search key, thereby extracting the terminalID of another starting terminal that registers the terminal ID “01aa” ofthe above-mentioned starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) as a candidatefor a counterpart terminal (step S29). In the candidate list managementtable illustrated in FIG. 13, the terminal IDs of other startingterminals that are extracted are “01ab”, “01ba”, and “01db”.

Next, the terminal state obtainer 55 of the management system 50searches the terminal management DB 5003 (see FIG. 12) by using theterminal ID “01aa” of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) which hassent the login request as a search key, and obtains the operating stateof the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) which has sent the loginrequest (step S30).

The transmitter/receiver 51 transmits counterpart terminal stateinformation including the terminal ID “01aa” and the operating state“online” of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa), obtained at S30, toterminals (10 ba and 10 db) whose operating states are “online” in theterminal management DB 5003 (see FIG. 12), among the terminals (10 ab,10 ba, and 10 db) according to the terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba”, and“01db”) extracted at S29 (steps S31-1 and S31-2). When transmitting thecounterpart terminal state information to the terminals (10 ba and 10db), the transmitter/receiver 51 refers to the IP addresses of theterminals, which are managed in the terminal management tableillustrated in FIG. 12, on the basis of the terminal IDs (“01ba” and“01db”). Accordingly, the terminal ID “01aa” and the operating state“online” of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) which has sent thelogin request can be transmitted to other counterpart terminals(terminals 10 db and 10 ba) that can communicate with the startingterminal (terminal 10 aa).

For any other terminal 10, as described above referring to S21, when theuser turns on the power switch 109 illustrated in FIG. 2, the operationinput acceptor 12 illustrated in FIG. 6 accepts the power on operationand performs processing that is the same as or similar to theabove-described S22 to S31-1 and S31-2, such that descriptions of whichare omitted.

Next, referring to FIGS. 21 to 26, operation of configuring operatingparameters to be used by the management system 50 in providing a serviceaccording to a service plan to the terminal 10 is explained according toan embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 21 is a data sequencediagram illustrating operation of configuring operating parametersrelated to a service. FIG. 22 illustrates an example screen, whichallows a user to request for a recommended service plan. The example ofFIG. 21 assumes that the management system 50 configures a service planto be provided to the terminal 10 aa.

In response to pressing of the “YES” key on the screen of FIG. 22 by theuser at the terminal 10 aa, as illustrated in FIG. 21, thetransmitter/receiver 11 of the terminal 10 aa transmits a service planconfiguration request to the management system 50 (S41). The serviceplan configuration request includes the terminal ID of the terminal 10aa. Accordingly, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50receives the service plan configuration request. The data processor 59of the management system 50 reads out all capability items from thecapability management table (FIG. 15) (S42). The transmitter/receiver 51of the management system 50 sends a request for capability, whichrequests the terminal 10 aa to obtain a capability level of eachcapability item, to the terminal 10 aa (S43). This request forcapability includes, for each capability item, the capability ID and thecapability name. Accordingly, the transmitter/receiver 11 of theterminal 10 aa receives the capability request including the capabilityID and the capability name for each capability item.

At the terminal 10 aa, the capability obtainer 16 obtains capability ofthe terminal 10 aa, specifically, a capability level for each capabilityitem as requested by the management system 50 (S44). For example, thecapability obtainer 16 may detect a line speed, for example, bymeasuring a time period from the time when data is sent from theterminal 10 aa to the time when such data is received at the terminal 10aa. In another example, the capability obtainer 16 may read outinformation indicating a resolution of the display 120 for the terminal10 aa, which is previously stored in a memory of the terminal 10 aa.

The transmitter/receiver 11 of the terminal 10 aa transmits a responseindicating the capability of the terminal 10 aa for each capability itemthat is requested, to the management system 50 (S45). The responseincludes, for each capability item, a capability level in associationwith the capability ID. The transmitter/receiver 51 of the managementsystem 50 receives the response in response to the capability request.In the following, it is assumed that the requested capability items arethe line speed and the display resolution of the terminal 10 aa.Further, it is assumed that the capability levels are 1500 kbps for linespeed, and VGA for display resolution.

Next, the management system 50 performs operation of determining aservice plan to be recommended to the terminal 10 aa (S46). Referring toFIGS. 22 to 25, operation of S46 is explained in detail. FIG. 23 is aflowchart illustrating operation of determining a service plan to berecommended.

As illustrated in FIG. 23, the data processor 59 searches thepreferential rating management tables (FIGS. 16A and 16B) using thecapability levels for the capability items included in the responsereceived at S45 to obtain the preferential rating (points) for each setvalue ID for each capability item. More specifically, for the line speedof 1500 kbps being obtained, the data processor 59 reads outpreferential rating of 10 points for the set value ID “svc103”,preferential rating of 5 points for the set value ID “svc203”, andpreferential rating of 0 point for any other set value ID. For thedisplay resolution of VGA being obtained, the data processor 59 readsout preferential rating of 10 points for the set value ID “svc201”, andpreferential rating of 0 point for any other set value ID.

Next, the adder 58 a illustrated in FIG. 7 calculates, for each one ofthe set value IDs, the total preferential rating by adding thepreferential ratings for each set item of a service plan (S46-2).Referring to FIGS. 24 to 25, operation of calculating the totalpreferential rating is described. FIGS. 24A and 24B (FIG. 24) are aschematic diagram for explaining calculating total preferential ratingfor frame rate. FIGS. 25A to 25C (FIG. 25) are a schematic diagram forexplaining calculating total preferential rating for display resolution.

As illustrated in FIG. 24A, total preferential rating is initially “0”for all set value IDs of the set item related to frame rate. As thepreferential rating of 10 points is read for the set value ID “svc103”(FIG. 16A), as illustrated in FIG. 24B, the total preferential ratingfor the set value ID “svc103” is changed to 10 points. Similarly, asillustrated in FIG. 25A, total preferential rating is initially “0” forall set value IDs of the set item related to display resolution. As thepreferential rating of 5 points is read for the set value ID “svc203”(FIG. 16A), as illustrated in FIG. 25B, the total preferential ratingfor the set value ID “svc203” is changed to 5 points. As thepreferential rating of 10 points is read for the set value ID “svc201”(FIG. 16B), as illustrated in FIG. 25C, the total preferential ratingfor the set value ID “svc201” is changed to 10 points.

Next, the determiner 58 b determines whether the preferential rating isadded for all capability items in the received response (S46-3). When itis determined that the adder 58 a has not added the preferential ratingfor all capability items (“NO”), the operation returns to S46-1.

At S46-3, when it is determined that the adder 58 a has added thepreferential rating for all capability items (“YES” at S46-3), theoperation proceeds to S46-4. The decider 58 c reads out, from the setvalue management table (FIG. 17), a set value that is associated withthe set value ID having the highest preferential rating (S46-4). In thisexample, as illustrated in FIG. 24B, the set value ID “svc103” has thehighest total preferential rating for the service with the service ID“sv100”. Accordingly, the decider 58 c reads out the set value “30 fps”,which is associated with the set value ID “svc103” in the table of FIG.17A, as a set value for the service plan to be recommended. Asillustrated in FIG. 25C, the set value ID “svc201” has the highest totalpreferential rating for the service with the service ID “sv200”.Accordingly, the decider 58 c reads out the set value “VGA”, which isassociated with the set value ID “svc201” in the table of FIG. 17B, as aset value for the service plan to be recommended.

Next, the decider 58 c refers to the service plan management table (FIG.18) using the set values that are read at S46-4, to obtain a serviceplan ID of the service having the read set values (S46-5). In thisexample, the service plan ID “svp101” is selected, which indicates aservice plan having the frame rate of 30 fps and the resolution of VGA.Operation of setting a set value for the other set items “bit rate” and“encoding format” is performed in a substantially similar manner asdescribed above referring to S46-1 to S46-4 for the case of “frame rate”and “resolution”.

The decider 58 c further reads out a usage fee for the service plan tobe recommended to the terminal 10, which is stored in association withthe selected service plan ID. In this example, the usage fee of “15,000Yen/Month” is read. The generator 58 c generates a screen, such as ascreen of FIG. 26, based on the set value of each set item and the usagefee for a specific service plan that is decided by the decider 58 c(S46-7). FIG. 26 is an illustration of an example screen, which asks auser to approve the recommended service plan.

Referring back to FIG. 21, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the managementsystem 50 transmits a confirmation request that requests whether toaccept the recommended service plan identified with the service plan ID“svp101”, to the terminal 10 aa (S47). The request for approval includesdata of the screen that is generated at S46-7.

Next, the user at the terminal 10 aa selects whether to accept or notaccept the recommended service plan, for example, based on the servicecontents (set items) and usage fee. In response to the user selection,the operation input acceptor 12 receives the user selection indicatingwhether to accept or not the recommended service plan (S48). Thetransmitter/receiver 11 of the management system 10 aa transmits aresponse indicating whether to accept or not accept, to the managementsystem 50 (S49). In the following, it is assumed that the user at theterminal 10 aa selects to accept the recommended service plan.

Based on the response, the configuration unit 58 of the managementsystem 50 stores the service plan ID of the recommended service plan, inthe “service plan ID” field of a record for the terminal ID “01aa” ofthe terminal 10 aa in the terminal management table (FIG. 12), toconfigure the service plan to be provided to the terminal 10 aa (S50).

As described above, the management system 50 obtains informationindicating capability of the terminal 10 from the terminal 10, andautomatically determines a service plan that matches the obtainedcapability of the terminal 10 for recommendation to the user at theterminal 10.

Referring to FIG. 27, operation of selecting the relay device 30 isexplained according to the embodiment. In FIG. 27, various managementdata is transmitted or received through the management data session“sei” as described above referring to FIG. 1. Further, in thisembodiment, the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) is able to startcommunicating with at least one of the candidate counterpart terminals10 having the operating state “online”, based on the terminal stateinformation received at S28 (FIG. 20). The example case in which theuser at the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) starts communicating withthe counterpart terminal (terminal 10 db) is described below.

First, when the user presses the operation keys 108 illustrated in FIG.2 and selects the terminal 10 db, the operation input acceptor 12illustrated in FIG. 6 accepts a request for starting communication withthe counterpart terminals (terminal 10 db) (step S61). Thetransmitter/receiver 11 of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa)transmits, to the management system 50, start request informationindicating a request for starting communication (step S62). The startrequest information includes the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10aa, and the terminal ID (“01db”) of the counterpart terminal (terminal10 db). The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 obtainsthe start request information, and further receives the IP address ofthe starting terminal (terminal 10 aa), which is the transmissionsource.

On the basis of the terminal ID “01aa” of the starting terminal(terminal 10 aa) and the terminal ID (“01db”) of the counterpartterminal (terminal 10 db), which are included in the start requestinformation, the state manager 53 changes the operating state field ofeach of records including the above-mentioned terminal IDs “01aa” and“01db” to “communicating” in the terminal management table (see FIG. 12)(S63). In this state, although the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa)and the counterpart terminal (terminal 10 db) have not startedcommunicating, these terminals enter a communicating state, and, ifanother terminal 10 tries to communicate with the starting terminal(terminal 10 aa) or the counterpart terminal (terminal 10 db), anotification sound or display that indicates that the terminal iscommunicating is output.

Next, operation of executing a session for selecting a relay device 30to be actually used will be described. First, the session manager 57 ofthe management system 50 generates a session ID used in executing asession for selecting a relay device 30 (S64). Here, the session ID“se1” is generated.

In the session management table (FIG. 14), the session manager 57 storesthe session ID “se1” generated at S64, the terminal ID “01aa” of thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa), and the terminal ID “01db” of thecounterpart terminal (terminal 10 db) in association with one another(step S65).

Next, the selector 56 of the management system 50, illustrated in FIG.6, selects a relay device 30 for relaying communication among two sites,namely, the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) and the counterpartterminal (terminal 10 db), on the basis of the relay device managementtable (FIG. 10) and the terminal management table (FIG. 12) (S66).Specifically, the selector 56 selects, among the relay devices havingthe operating state “online” in the relay device management table (FIG.10), one relay device 30 having the IP address that is close in networklocation to the IP address of the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) inthe terminal management table (FIG. 12). In this embodiment, it isassumed that the relay device 30 aa (relay device ID “111a”) isselected.

After completion of selection of the relay device 30 at S66, thetransmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits relaydevice selection information to the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa)(S67-1). The relay device selection information includes the IP addressof the relay device 30 a selected at S46, and the session ID “se1”generated at S64. Accordingly, the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa)can obtain the IP address of the management system 50, which is thetransmission source of the relay device selection information.

Further, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50transmits the relay device selection information to the counterpartterminal (terminal 10 db) via the communication network 2 (step S67-2).The relay device selection information includes the IP address of therelay device 30 a selected at S66, the terminal ID “01aa” of thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa), and the session ID “se1” generatedat S64. Accordingly, the counterpart terminal (terminal 10 db) canobtain, in execution of a session with the session ID “se1”, the IPaddress of the management system 50, which is the transmission source ofthe relay device selection information.

Next, in response to the processing at S67-1, the starting terminal(terminal 10 aa) transmits, from the transmitter/receiver 11 to themanagement system 50 via the communication network 2, receptioncompletion information indicating completion of reception of the relaydevice selection information (step S68-1). The reception completioninformation includes the session ID transmitted or received in theprocessing at S67-1. Accordingly, the management system 50 can obtaininformation indicating completion of transmission of the relay deviceselection information, executed with the session ID “se1”.

Next, in response to the processing at S67-2, the counterpart terminal(terminal 10 db) similarly transmits, to the management system 50,reception completion information indicating completion of reception ofthe relay device selection information at S67-2 (step S68-2). Also inthis case, the management system 50 can obtain information indicatingcompletion of transmission of the relay device selection information,executed with the session ID “se1”.

Next, referring to FIG. 28, the session manager 57 of the managementsystem 50 stores the relay device ID of the selected relay device 30 a,in a relay device ID field of a record for the session ID “se1” in thesession management table (see FIG. 14) (S81).

Next, the data processor 59 of the management system 50 searches theterminal management table (see FIG. 12) using the terminal ID of thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa) received at S62 as a search key, toread the corresponding service plan ID (step S82). The data processor 59searches the service plan management table (FIG. 18) using the serviceID read at S82 as a search key to obtain the operating parameters of theservice contents, that is, the set values of set items (S83).

The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmitsservice information to the above-selected relay device 30 a via thecommunication network 2 (S84). The service information includes thesession ID generated at S64 and the operating parameters (servicecontents) read at S83. In FIG. 28, the transmitter/receiver 51 of themanagement system 50 transmits the service information to the relaydevice 30 a, and the transmitter/receiver 31 of the relay device 30 areceives the service information.

Next, the data processor 39 of the relay device 30 a newly stores thesession ID and the operating parameters, received at S84, in associationwith each other in the service plan contents management table (see FIG.8) (S85).

Next, the data processor 59 of the management system 50 searches theterminal management table (see FIG. 12) by using the terminal IDs of thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa) and the counterpart terminal(terminal 10 db), received at S62, as search keys, thereby readingcorresponding IP addresses (S86).

The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits relaystart request information indicating a request for starting relaying tothe above-selected relay device 30 a via the communication network 2(S87). The relay start request information includes the IP addressesread out in the above-described processing at step S65. As thetransmitter/receiver 31 of the relay device 30 a receives the relaystart request information, the data processor 39 of the relay device 30a stores the IP addresses received at S87 in association with thesession ID received at S87. Accordingly, the relay device 30 a candetect that the relay device 30 a has been selected. Thus, the relaydevice 30 a establishes a session for communicating image data havingthree resolutions, namely, low resolution, intermediate resolution, andhigh resolution, and sound data between the terminals (10 aa and 10 db)(step S88-1 and S88-2). Thus, the terminals (10 aa and 10 db) can starta videoconference between two sites.

Next, using FIGS. 6 and 29, operation of transmitting or receiving imagedata and sound data to carry out videoconference between the startingterminal (terminal 10 aa) and the counterpart terminal (terminal 10 db)will be described. Since the one-way operation of transmitting imagedata and sound data from the terminal 10 aa to the terminal 10 db andthe other-way operation of transmitting image data and sound data fromthe terminal 10 db to the terminal 10 aa are the same processing interms of transmission/reception of image data and sound data andlater-described delay time detection, the former-mentioned one-waycommunication will be described, and the latter-mentioned other-waycommunication will be omitted.

First, the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) transmits image data of asubject, captured by the image capturer 14, and sound data of sounds,input by the sound input 15 a, from the transmitter/receiver 11 to therelay device 30 a via the communication network 2 using a sessionidentified by the session ID “se1” (the image/sound data session sedillustrated in FIG. 1) (S101).

In the relay device 30 a, in response to receiving the image data andthe sound data by the transmitter/receiver 31, the quality changer 33refers to the session ID, which is stored in the service plan contentsmanagement table (see FIG. 8), to change the image data and the sounddata according to the operating parameters. The operating parameters inthis example includes an image quality parameter and a sound qualityparameter. In this case, when the quality of the image data and thequality of the sound data transmitted from the starting terminal(terminal 10 aa) are values that are less than or equal to the imagequality parameter and the sound quality parameter obtained from theservice plan contents management table, respectively, the qualitychanger 33 does not change the quality of the image data and the qualityof the sound data. In contrast, when the quality of the image datatransmitted from the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) is a value thatexceeds the image quality parameter, the quality changer 33 reduces thequality of the image data to the value of the image quality parameter.Similarly, when the quality of the sound data transmitted from thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa) is a value that exceeds the soundquality parameter, the quality changer 33 reduces the quality of thesound data to the value of the sound quality parameter.

The transmitter/receiver 31 of the relay device 30 a transfers the imagedata and the sound data to the counterpart terminal (terminal 10 db)through the image/sound data session sed (S103). Accordingly, thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa) can transmit image data and sounddata having qualities that are based on the service plan ID of thestarting terminal (terminal 10 aa). In the case of transmitting imagedata and sound data from the counterpart terminal (terminal 10 db) tothe starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) via the relay device 30 a, imagedata and sound data having qualities that are based on the service ID ofthe starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) can be transmitted.

As described above in this embodiment, the management system 50determines a service to be recommended to the terminal 10 based oncapability of the terminal 10 obtained from the terminal 10.Accordingly, the management system 50 can automatically determine aservice plan that is suitable to the use environment or application ofthe terminal 10, which may depend on the capability of the terminal 10.This further reduces burdens for the user to select a service plan byhis or her own, as the management system 50 automatically determines theservice plan based on capability of the terminal 10 operated by theuser.

With acceptance by the user at the terminal 10 regarding the recommendedservice plan, the management system 50 configures the recommendedservice plan as a service plan to be provided to the terminal 10. Withthis configuration, the management system 50 is able to provide theservice plan that is suitable to the use environment or application ofthe terminal 10 that may depend on the capability of the terminal 10.This further reduces burdens for the user to select a service plan byhis or her own. Since the user only needs to select whether to approveor not the recommended service plan, the user is not required to haveany special knowledge such as technical knowledge about the network.

In the above-described embodiments, the capability obtainer 16 obtains,for example, by measuring capability of the terminal 10 in response tothe request for capability, and transmits the capability level that ismeasured to the management system 50. Alternatively, the capabilityobtainer 16 may previously store in the memory 1000 capability levelsfor at least capability items that may be requested by the managementsystem 50 in determining a service plan, and reads out the capabilitylevels of the requested capability items for transmission to themanagement system 50 in response to the request for capability. In theabove-described embodiment, at S67, the management system 50 recommendsone service that is most suitable to the capability of the terminal 10,but this is just exemplary. For example, the management system 50 mayselect top three set values having the highest preferential ratings forat least one set item, and select a service plan based on such selectedset values for recommendation to the user. Alternatively, the managementsystem 50 may display a list of all available service plans to the user,with the preferential rating, for example, with more than one option forset value for each set item. With such information, the user can selectone of the service plans while using information regarding thepreferential rating.

In the above-described embodiment, operation of FIG. 21 for configuringthe service plan at the management system 50, and operation of FIGS. 27to 29 for transmitting the service contents such as the operatingparameters of the selected service plan to the relay device 30 a are notconsecutively performed. However, the operation may be performed invarious other ways. For example, after processing at S50, the managementsystem 50 may request the terminal 10 aa to select a counterpartterminal 10 to start communication. Through this processing, S50 and S61are performed consecutively. Through consecutively performing operationfrom responding to the management system 50 to starting communication,operability for the user at the terminal 10 may improve.

The relay devices 30 and the management system 50 in the above-describedembodiment may be implemented by a single computer or a plurality ofcomputers to which divided portions (functions) are arbitrarilyallocated. In addition, any of the programs to be provided to the relaydevice 30, the management system 50, or the terminal 10 may beseparately transmitted in units of a plurality of modules, or may betransmitted in its entirety. Alternatively, such program may be dividedinto a plurality of modules, and the modules may be individuallytransmitted from the respective computers.

In addition, a recording medium such as a CD-ROM storing the terminalprogram, the relay device program, or the communication managementprogram in the above-described embodiment, and the HD 204 storing theseprograms are used as program products in the case of providing theterminal program, the relay device program, and the communicationmanagement program to users within a certain country or outside thatcountry.

Although the date/time received is managed in FIGS. 10, 12, and 14, theembodiment is not limited to this, and, out of the date/time received,it is only necessary to manage at least the time received.

Further, although the IP address of each relay device 30 is managed inFIG. 10 and the IP address of each terminal 10 is managed in FIG. 12 inthe above-described embodiment, the embodiment is not limited to thiscase, and the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of each relay device 30or each terminal 10 may be managed instead as long as an FQDN serves asrelay device identification information for identifying each relaydevice 30 on the communication network 2 or terminal identificationinformation for identifying each terminal 10 on the communicationnetwork 2. In this case, an IP address corresponding to an FQDN isobtained by a Domain Name System (DNS) server of the related art. Notethat, not only “relay device identification information for identifyingeach relay device 30 on the communication network 2”, but also “relaydevice connection destination information indicating a connectiondestination of each relay device 30 on the communication network 2”, or“relay device counterpart terminal information indicating a counterpartterminal of each relay device 30 on the communication network 2” may beused. Similarly, not only “terminal identification information foridentifying each terminal 10 on the communication network 2”, but also“terminal connection destination information indicating a connectiondestination of each terminal 10 on the communication network 2”, or“terminal counterpart terminal information indicating a counterpartterminal of each terminal 10 on the communication network 2” may beused.

In addition, although the case of a videoconference terminal has beendescribed as an example of a communication terminal in theabove-described embodiment, the embodiment is not limited to this case,and the communication system 1 may be a phone system such as an IP phonesystem or an Internet phone system. In addition, a smart phone, a mobilephone, a car navigation terminal, a wearable computer, a monitoringcamera, an electronic blackboard, a projector, a game machine, orindustrial equipment with a communication function may be used. Awearable computer includes a watch and a head-mounted display.Industrial equipment includes office equipment such as a multifunctionperipheral (MFP) printer product, medical equipment such as anendoscope, and agricultural equipment such as a cultivator.

In addition, although image data and sound data are described asexamples of content data in the above-described embodiment, the contentdata is not limited to these items of data, and the content data may betouch data. In this case, a feeling obtained by a user's contact at oneterminal side is transmitted to the other terminal side. Further, thecontent data may be smell data. In this case, a smell at one terminalside is transmitted to the other terminal side. In addition, the contentdata may be at least one of image data, sound data, touch data, andsmell data.

In addition, although the case in which a videoconference is held by thecommunication system 1 has been described in the above-describedembodiment, the embodiment is not limited to this case. Thecommunication system 1 may be used in meetings, general conversationbetween family members or friends, or one-way presentation ofinformation.

Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within thescope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the present inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Forexample, elements and/or features of different illustrative embodimentsmay be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other withinthe scope of this disclosure and appended claims.

Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented byone or more processing circuits or circuitry. Processing circuitryincludes a programmed processor, as a processor includes circuitry. Aprocessing circuit also includes devices such as an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) and conventional circuit components arrangedto perform the recited functions.

The present invention can be implemented in any convenient form, forexample using dedicated hardware, or a mixture of dedicated hardware andsoftware. The present invention may be implemented as computer softwareimplemented by one or more networked processing apparatuses. The networkcan comprise any conventional terrestrial or wireless communicationsnetwork, such as the Internet. The processing apparatuses can compromiseany suitably programmed apparatuses such as a general-purpose computer,personal digital assistant, mobile telephone (such as a WAP or3G-compliant phone) and so on. Since the present invention can beimplemented as software, each and every aspect of the present inventionthus encompasses computer software implementable on a programmabledevice. The computer software can be provided to the programmable deviceusing any storage medium for storing processor readable code such as afloppy disk, hard disk, CD ROM, magnetic tape device or solid-statememory device.

The hardware platform includes any desired kind of hardware resourcesincluding, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a random accessmemory (RAM), and a hard disk drive (HDD). The CPU may be implemented byany desired kind of any desired number of processor. The RAM may beimplemented by any desired kind of volatile or non-volatile memory. TheHDD may be implemented by any desired kind of non-volatile memorycapable of storing a large amount of data. The hardware resources mayadditionally include an input device, an output device, or a networkdevice, depending on the type of the apparatus. Alternatively, the HDDmay be provided outside of the apparatus as long as the HDD isaccessible. In this example, the CPU, such as a cache memory of the CPU,and the RAM may function as a physical memory or a primary memory of theapparatus, while the HDD may function as a secondary memory of theapparatus.

1. A communication management system comprising: a transmitterconfigured to transmit a request for obtaining capability informationindicating capability of a first communication terminal of a pluralityof communication terminals, to the first communication terminal througha network; a receiver configured to receive capability information ofthe first communication terminal from the first communication terminal;and processing circuitry configured to determine a set value for eachone of a plurality of set items to be configured in providing a serviceplan corresponding to the capability of the first communicationterminal, based on the capability information of the first communicationterminal, and cause the transmitter to transmit the determined set valueof each one of the plurality of set items to a relay device, as anoperating parameter for controlling the relay device in transmitting orreceiving content data to or from the first communication terminalaccording the service plan corresponding to the capability of the firstcommunication terminal.
 2. The communication management system of claim1, wherein the transmitter transmits the request for obtainingcapability information, in response to receiving a request forconfiguring a service plan to be provided to the first communicationterminal from the first communication terminal, and the processingcircuitry determines the service plan to be provided to the firstcommunication terminal based on the determined set value of each one ofthe plurality of set items.
 3. The communication management system ofclaim 1, wherein the request for obtaining capability informationincludes, for each one of a plurality of capability items requested bythe communication management system, at least capability identificationinformation identifying the capability item, and the capabilityinformation of the first communication terminal includes a capabilitylevel obtained at the first communication terminal for each one of theplurality of capability items, and the capability identificationinformation for each one of the plurality of capability items.
 4. Thecommunication management system of claim 3, further comprising: a memoryconfigured to store, for each one of a plurality of service plansavailable to at least one of the plurality of communication terminals,service plan identification information identifying the service plan inassociation with a plurality of set values of the plurality of set itemsto be configured in providing a service plan, wherein the processingcircuitry selects, from the plurality of service plans stored in thememory, a service plan having the determined set value of each one ofthe plurality of set items as the service plan to be provided to thefirst communication terminal.
 5. The communication management system ofclaim 4, wherein the memory further stores, for each one of theplurality of capability items, preferential rating informationindicating a preferential rating in using a specific set value of theplurality of set items, when a specific capability level of thecapability item is obtained at one of the plurality of communicationterminals, and the processing circuitry determines the set value of eachone of the plurality of set items to be configured in providing theservice plan corresponding to the capability of the first communicationterminal, based on the preferential rating information stored inassociation with the capability level of each one of the capabilityitems of the capability information that is received from the firstcommunication terminal.
 6. The communication management system of claim5, wherein the processing circuitry further adds preferential ratingsobtained using all capability levels of the capability information ofthe first communication terminal to calculate a total preferentialrating for each one of available set values of the plurality of setitems, and selects the set value having the highest total preferentialrating as the determined set value of each one of the plurality of setitems to be transmitted to the relay device for the first communicationterminal.
 7. The communication management system of claim 1, wherein theoperating parameter controls a quality of content data to be transmittedor received by the relay device to or from the first communicationterminal, such that the quality of content data matches the service plancorresponding to the capability of the first communication terminal. 8.The communication management system of claim 3, wherein the plurality ofcapability items requested by the communication management system ispreviously determined based on the plurality of set items to beconfigured in providing the service plan.
 9. A communication system,comprising: the communication management system of claim 1; and therelay device configured to relay content data between the firstcommunication terminal and a counterpart terminal of the firstcommunication terminal according to the operating parameter that isconfigured based on the set value of each one of the plurality of setitems that is transmitted from the communication management system. 10.A communication system, comprising: the communication management systemof claim 1; and the first communication terminal configured to obtain acapability level indicating the capability of the first communicationterminal for each one of a plurality of capability items requested bythe communication management system, and transmit the capabilityinformation of the first communication terminal having the capabilitylevel for each one of the plurality of capability items to thecommunication management system.
 11. A method of controllingcommunication, comprising: transmitting a request for obtainingcapability information indicating capability of a first communicationterminal of a plurality of communication terminals, to the firstcommunication terminal through a network; receiving capabilityinformation of the first communication terminal from the firstcommunication terminal; determining a set value for each one of aplurality of set items to be configured in providing a service plancorresponding to the capability of the first communication terminal,based on the capability information of the first communication terminal,and transmitting the determined set value of each one of the pluralityof set items to a relay device, as an operating parameter forcontrolling the relay device in transmitting or receiving content datato or from the first communication terminal according the service plancorresponding to the capability of the first communication terminal. 12.The method of claim 11, further comprising: storing in a memory, foreach one of service plans available to at least one of the plurality ofcommunication terminals, service plan identification informationidentifying the service plan in association with a plurality of setvalues of the plurality of set items to be configured in providing aservice plan; and selecting, from the plurality of service plans storedin the memory, a service plan having the determined set value of eachone of the plurality of set items as the service plan to be provided tothe first communication terminal.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: storing in the memory, for each one of a plurality ofcapability items each indicating the capability of the communicationterminal, preferential rating information indicating a preferentialrating in using a specific set value of the plurality of set items, whena specific capability level of the capability item is obtained at one ofthe plurality of communication terminals, and determining the set valueof each one of the plurality of set items to be configured in providingthe service plan corresponding to the capability of the firstcommunication terminal, based on the preferential rating informationstored in association with the capability level of each one of thecapability items of the capability information that is received from thefirst communication terminal.
 14. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: adding preferential ratings obtained using all capabilitylevels of the capability information of the first communication terminalto calculate a total preferential rating for each one of available setvalues of the plurality of set items, and selecting the set value havingthe highest total preferential rating as the determined set value ofeach one of the plurality of set items to be transmitted to the relaydevice for the first communication terminal.
 15. A non-transitoryrecording medium which, when executed by one or more processors, causethe processors to perform a communication control method comprising:transmitting a request for obtaining capability information indicatingcapability of a first communication terminal of a plurality ofcommunication terminals, to the first communication terminal through anetwork; receiving capability information of the first communicationterminal from the first communication terminal; determining a set valuefor each one of a plurality of set items to be configured in providing aservice plan corresponding to the capability of the first communicationterminal, based on the capability information of the first communicationterminal, and transmitting the determined set value of each one of theplurality of set items to a relay device, as an operating parameter forcontrolling the relay device in transmitting or receiving content datato or from the first communication terminal according the service plancorresponding to the capability of the first communication terminal.